INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

(CA STANDARDS: 8.6.1; 8.6.2; 8 .6.3; 8 .7.1)

Mrs. Chen 8th grade U.S. History

INTRODUCTION

Before the Industrial Revolution, most people

in New England worked on small farms and in

their homes to produce goods such as

furniture, clothing, and other household items.

In the mid-1700s, the way goods were made

began to change.

BRITAIN STARTS INDUSTRIALIZATION

British inventors created machines to perform some of the

work involved in cloth-making. These machines ran on

waterpower, making New England an ideal location to build

factories since many rivers and streams run through the area.

New England also had the advantage of being a trading hub

with its many port cities. Through these ports passed the

cotton shipped from the Southern states to New England

factories, which in turn became textiles that would be shipped

and sold throughout the country.

THE COTTON GIN

Farmers in the South knew that cotton was a

promising crop, but growers who experimented

with it had a hard time making a profit. Before

cotton could be turned in to yard for cloth, the

seeds needed to be removed from the fibers. This

took a lot of manpower and hours, making the

production of cotton costly.

THE COTTON GIN CONT…

In 1793, Eli Whitney of Massachusetts had an idea. “If a

machine could be invented that would clean the cotton with

expedition [speed],” he wrote his father, “it would be a great

thing…to the country.” Whitney set to work and six months

later, he had invented the cotton gin (engine), a simple

machine that quickly and efficiently removed seeds from

cotton fiber. The cotton gin enabled one worker, usually a

slave, to clean cotton as fast as fifty people working by hand.

“KING COTTON”

Within ten years of the invention, cotton was the South’s

most important crop. By 1860, sales of cotton sold overseas

earned more money for the United States than all other

exports combined. Whitney had hoped his invention would

lighten the work load of slaves. Instead, slavery became

more important than ever in the South. Planters soon

pushed west in search of fresh, fertile soil. By 1850, cotton

plantations reached all the way to Texas and as cotton

spread westward, slavery followed.

LOWELL MILLSIn 1810, Francis Cabot Lowell visited England.

There, he saw how mill owners were using machines

powered by water to spin cotton into thread and

weave the thread into cloth. He memorized the

design of the British machines and when he returned

home to Massachusetts, he built even better ones.

By 1815, he had developed America’s first textile

factory – a place where all the steps in the

manufacture of a product were performed in one

place to increase efficiency.

LOWELL MILLS CONT…

To run his machinery, Lowell hired young farmwomen,

who were anxious to earn cash wages. The “Lowell

Girls” worked for 12-15 hours each day, with only

Sundays off. In addition, women workers were paid less

than men. Women and men working in factories faced

on-the-job dangers such as lost fingers and broken

bones. In the summer, factories and mills were

miserably hot and in winters, workers suffered through

the cold. At the time, no laws existed to regulate

working conditions and complaining workers could

easily be replaced.

TRANSPORTATION

In 1806, Congress had approved the funding of a road to

connect the Northwest Territory (Ohio specifically) to the

East. Construction of the road took many years but

Congress saw it as a military necessity; otherwise, the

federal government did not undertake road-building

projects. Private companies began to build turnpikes, or

toll roads which travelers paid fees to use. These fees paid

for the construction of the roads.

TRANSPORTATION CONT…

River travel was much preferred to road travel since it was

more comfortable and boats could carry more goods. However,

boats depended on river currents to push them along and

traveling upstream was slow and difficult. This changed when

Robert Fulton developed a steamboat with a powerful engine.

By 1807, Fulton’s steamboat was ready. Steamboats ushered in a

new age in river travel. Shipping goods became faster and easier

and soon river cities such as Cincinnati and St. Louis were

growing rapidly. By 1850, more than 700 steamboats were in use.

TRANSPORTATION CONT…

In the 1820s, Congressman Henry Clay prepared an

ambitious program to improve transportation and

strengthen the economy: the American System,

included building canals and roads to link the South,

Northeast, and West together. Clay believed the system

would bring the United States “to that height to which

God and nature had destined it.” Improved

transportation meant that people could now buy goods

produced in distant places. Communication via

newspapers and postal delivery improved allowed more

people to be involved in American democracy.

THE ERIE CANAL & RAILROADS

In New York, business and government officials led by De

Witt Clinton developed a plan to link New York City with the

Great Lakes region. They hoped to build a canal, an artificial

waterway, across New York state; the canal would connect

the Hudson River with Lake Erie. Thousands of workers,

including many Irish immigrants, worked on the 363-mile

Erie Canal for more than two years. The workers received

fifty cents and thirty-two ounces of whiskey per day as

payment.

THE ERIE CANAL & RAILROADS

In 1825, the Erie Canal opened. Crowds cheered in

celebration. The East and the Midwest were connected.

The canal cost $8.5 million to build, but it was a

bargain. Boats immediately filled the canal, carrying

goods to western markets and raw materials to eastern

markets. For every pound of product and for every

human on board, a toll was charged to use the Erie

Canal. Everyone was shocked when, before a decade

had even passed, the Erie Canal had collected more

tolls than it cost to build in the first place. For decades,

people relied on the Erie Canal.

THE ERIE CANAL & RAILROADS

Inspired by the success of steamboats, inventors

developed stem-powered locomotives. Trains traveled

faster than steamboats and they could go wherever tracks

could be laid – even across mountains. So many railroad

companies were laying tracks by the 1840s that railroads

had become the North’s biggest business. By 1860, more

than 20,000 miles of rail linked northern factories to cities

hundreds of miles away.

IMMIGRATIONImmigration to the United States from northern Europe

increased dramatically between 1840 and 1860.. Between

1846 and 1860, more than 1.5 million Irish immigrants

arrived in the U.S. Irish immigration was caused by the

Great Irish Famine, in which there was an extreme

shortage of food caused by a devastating disease that

destroyed Irish potato crops. Since they couldn’t afford to

buy property, most immigrants took factory jobs in

Northern cities. Factory owners welcomed the

immigrants, who were willing to work for low pay.

IMMIGRATIONThe second-largest group of immigrants came from

Germany. Some sought work while others left because

of the failure of a democratic revolution in Germany in

1848. During this time, many German Jews came to

the United States in search of religious freedom. One

immigrant wrote in a letter: “Over there [Germany]

common sense and free speech lie in shackles… I

invite you to come over here, should you want to

obtain a clear notion of genuine public life, freedom of

the people, and sense of being a nation…”

IMMIGRATIONOver time, some native-born Americans began to

resent immigrants because they sounded “different”

and were Catholic (remember that America was

founded by Protestants seeking religious freedom).

People who were opposed to immigration were known

as nativists. Some accused immigrants of taking jobs

from “real” Americans while others accused them of

bringing crime and disease to American cities. Still,

immigrants came, attracted to “a new society with

almost limitless opportunities open to all,” as one

German newcomer put it.